Without a Shadow of a doubt
by penultimate-lifeform
Summary: Another 'Shadow's not dead, here's what happens' story, but instead of doing an emotion one, I've tried to use it as a tool to show another side of Shadow's character (and I'm not talking about a goody-goody side) and to answer some unanswered questions.


I do not own Sonic, or in fact any of the things that I am writing about. I'm on the edge of breaking various copyright laws and taking credit for other people ideas. There, are you happy? Huh... lawayers...  
  
What follows is an attempt at rounding Shadow's character off even more than SA2 did, answering some unanswered questions, and trying to take a different approach to the 'Shadow's not dead' storyline. Please R&R (I don't mind bad reviews as long as you state why)  
I've tried to avoid to many emotional bits, and I don't think i have any.  
  
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Falling.  
Falling so far.  
Sinking.  
Sleeping.  
Forever.  
Happy.  
Maria.  
  
It was these vauge thoughts that passed through my mind as I fell, unable to keep myself conscious for more than a few seconds. Maria's words passed through my head, and in my mind, somewhere in my subconscious, I was glad that these would be my last thoughts. My torture was finally at an end.  
And so ends the Ultima-- the Clon-- the Machi---, what am I?   
These thoughts pass through my head. Doubt. Confusion?  
My meaning of life was fulfilled. Or was it? If I was the Ultimate Lifeform, then I hadn't fulfilled my purpose?  
What am I anyway?  
I close my eyes, knowing with a soft anger that this was not my time to die, that I must go on, and whisper "Chaos Control".  
  
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A new day...  
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G.U.N. Yes, G.U.N. Those bastards.   
My way to freedom. Perhaps I could even find out what happened on that fateful day. A feeling siezed me that had dpne so never before. Fear. An icy terror. What if Rouge was right? What if I were a robot. A computer program created for revenge? I close my eyes, and sense all around me. A trick that even Sonic couldn't do. I gently Chaos Control my consciousness all around me, giving me a mental map of the entire building. I can feel the people all around me. Their minds. Their thoughts. And their fear. A sense of fear was eminating around the complex. I put out my chaotic mental feelers again, focusing on the fear, absorbing it into my own feelings becoming one with the feelings of those around me.  
  
Fear.  
Cold Sweat.  
Terror.  
Petrified.  
I'm going to die.  
  
I quickly retracted my mind, a sort of mental flinch from the focused terror around me. Fear. A perfect emotion to take advantage of.  
I walked down the many cold, metal passages of the complex, using my mental map to find the way. Finally, I came accross somebody. Like all G.U.N. soldiers, I could not see him properly, as he was covered with uniform in the form of protective armour. Cold armour, ocvering a cold man, but another extension of my mental feelers could detect that this man had a a terrible amount of fear rising in his mind to a crescendo, and as he saw me, it almost pushed him over the edge.  
He was almost insane with fear.  
"Ha-halt who go- goes there? Fried or foe?" He said, using his last desperate grip on sanity to perform his duty.  
I smiled to myself at the primative, medieval styled, security, and answered simply "Foe."  
Without another word, he opened fire. Chaos control came in handy once again, as I teleported every bullet back towards him, aiming them so that they just missed. After a few seconds he stopped, and fell to his knees. I walked over to him, held his own gun to his head, and demanded that he would hand over his armour, security cards, and identification. With a pathetically small amount of protest, he did so, before dashing out of the complex.  
Thus, I donned my disguise.  
  
It took me a while to reach my destination, but there was little security, and what security there was was laughably easy to bypass. It consisted mainly of people, who, with a flash of the identification card, would let me pass. I only once even needed to use the security card, and that was to get past a door.  
People weren't asking questions.  
They didn't want answers.  
  
My destination was a computer console. The only one in the entire building which had access to EVERYTHING. I took my helmet off, so that I could see the screen better. The next bit was, perhaps, the most difficult, and the most tedious. I will not go into the details of the codecracking, the hacking and the searching; but finally, I found what I was looking for.  
  
Maria J. Robtonik: Killed in A.R.K. raid.  
  
I entered this, and found what I was looking for, the operation's codename: Operation Sunlight.  
For a second, I was overcome with anger. That they could sum up all of that death, destruction and chaos with a pun.   
  
Operation Sunlight, to destroy Project Shadow.  
I entered this codename, and found out the details. What I had been searching for.  
  
"...Ultimate Lifeform, blah blah... Robotnik, blah... Lizard named Biolizard, hmm... dangerous... mm... Hedgehog. Ah, here it is." I muttered to myself "A hedgehog, black and red, was also sighted during the raid, but was not destroyed."  
Damn. That was useless. But at least it confirmed my existence then. That, even if my memeories had been changed, it wasn't to quite such an extent as it may have been.   
"I wonder if..."   
It was then that the dart hit me.  
  
  
I woke up.  
In a cell.  
Alone.  
  
I cursed myself. Through all that and I was taken down by a simple poisonous dart. Now what were they going to do with me. I reached out with Chaos Control, to see what was going on around me, only to find that it had been blocked.  
Damn.  
I couldn't believe they had done this to me. ME! the Ulti---  
Damn. Damn. Damn.  
It took a while for somebody to realise that I was awake, and to come and see me. He wasn't wearing armour, just a uniform. he was obviously of a higher rank than most.  
"When they told me that all this was started by a hedgehog, I didn't believe them. But I guess it's true. When will these hedgehogs stop?" he said, half talking to himself.  
"All this? What are you talking about?"  
"Look, I'm a professional. I'm not going to be fooled by all of this 'I don't know anything' rubbish. I'm talking about the bother with the Chaos Emeralds. The recharging."  
"Still a blank. You are mistaken, I fear.  
"Well then, who are you?"  
I decided to go with what I knew.  
"I am Shadow the Hedgehog. The one and only Ultimate Lifeform."  
  
His eyes widened noticably.  
  
"O-okay. Step out of the cell. Slowly. Don't turn around. I've got a gun." He floureshed it to prove himself.  
Pathetic. Truly pathetic.  
I created a chaos control sheild around me. Something that I could only do for a few seconds, as it transported eveything passing through it away. That included air.  
  
I turned around.  
  
There was nothing behind me. But there was some writing on the cell wall, written in a shaky hand. I read it, something I was able to do in about 4 seconds.  
  
"Why did they have to come? It was all in good faith. Why did they have to take everybody prisoner? Why couldn't the just tell us to stop. I think they are going to kill me.  
Poor Shadow."  
  
My suspicions had been rising as I read, but as I read the last line, I knew for certain who had writern it.  
"Maria"  
I whispered the word, as the hatred and anger welled up inside me.  
I had been put in the same cell as her! In the very place that she died! And her last thought, it was... of me.  
I backflipped beside the man without thought, and stopped sheilding myself. I grabbed him in a headlock.  
"So what's the answer then?" I said, softly.  
"Wh-- What?"  
"I SAID 'WHAT'S THE ANSWER?'" I screamed, overcome with rage "WHY DID YOU HAVE TO KILL THEM ALL?"  
"We- we thought that you- you were dangerous." by this point, I was making it difficult for him to breath.  
"You were right. I am."  
  
That was when I grabbed the gun, turned it on him and ended his pathetic life.  
  
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"This isn't for Maria, this is for me."  
  
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I never regretted it. It wasn't revenge on the innocent. He was the one who organised the raid, he was the one who was responsible.   
He wouldn't have been able to answer me if he wasn't.   
If I hadn't been so powerful, he would have killed me.  
  
  
His body lay lifeless, limp; his staring eyes emptied of their guilt, their cares. I dragged him into the cell that I was in, and locked him there, taking the keys with me.  
  
As I passed the other cells, I noticed they they too were all the cells of other scientists from A.R.K., many of which I knew, little markings or writings on the wall seemed to be popular, as a passtime, a diary, or even just to get cares and worries off of the writer's shoulders.  
It told a quite interesting story. Maria being more worried about me than herself according to some, some vague idea that I would rescue them, or perhaps that the biolizard would, and something about Gerald's great uncle having something to do with G.U.N.  
None of it, however, reffered to me as the ultimate lifeform, or anything else. Why write about something that they took for granted? This wasn't answering my question.  
It was quite depressing as well.  
  
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As I ran through the G.U.N. complex, not really sure of where I wanted to get to, but hoping I'd find something along the way, I thought.  
That man definately said something strage.  
'When they told me that all this was started by a hedgehog, I didn't believe them.'  
Yes, what was 'all this'? And what was everybody so afraid of? That's what I would find out. With my other newly aquired security card (well, he won't need it where he's gone), I made my way back to the computer console, this time more wary than before.  
I did spot some other traps, and disarmed them. Then, once again, I started searching on the computer.  
  
"Ah, here it is. Intelligence reports... blah blah... Chaos Emeralds... hmm.... fake... Hey!"  
  
It was the 'fake' bit that caught my eye. How could you recharge the chaos emeralds if thye had infinite power?   
  
"Location... ah."  
  
So, there is where I must go. Apparently, I was tied up in all this, and it may be my answer.  
  
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I entered the cavern.  
  
Well, this was interesting. A... hidden base? It certainly defied the usual definition. It consisted simply of a few rooms. There was even music playing in the background.   
"...house, with a blue window..."  
  
A figure appeared.   
  
I could have escaped. Easily. But there was no real reason to. After all, this figure could be my answer. So there I was, Shadow the Hedgehog. The Ultimate Lifeform. Well, perhaps. Taken prisinor.  
  
"I never thought I'd see you again." Said the figure. I knew that voice well.  
"I can say the same about you. So it was you. You are more intelligent than I thought."  
A sadastic smile flickered on my captor's face, but only for a second.  
"I see. But you know, I can't let you live" he said.  
"I thought you might kill me. But first, please, answer my question. Am I-"  
"The Ultimate Lifeform? Yes, you are. I suppose this needs explaining, and if it is your last wish, then I shall honour it. We did, after all, treat you - inhumanely - to say the least."  
I nodded, slowly.  
"Your memories are real. That is, however, just about all that is. Maria, Gerald, it all existed. We did, however, change your memories slightly. We changed it so that you would believe that Maria had made you promise one thing, then, with some remidning from Amy, you would 'remember the truth'. of course, the later was the truth, however, you had to be a bad guy. Evil. Somebody to compete with. it all fitted in. the crowds loved it, and therefore me. Us. Money is one currency. power and fame is quite another. You were also... copied. We, of course, erased your memory of that."  
"Oh. So I was correct. Faker-"   
At this last word I smiled - for want of a better word - amiably. I would not let him know it yet, but I was on top of the world. I was the Ultimate Lifeform! The original, the best! No copy, not Sonic, not anyone, was as perfect as me. I was created to protect, help and save the world.  
  
And I didn't care.  
  
He finished off my phrase "-no chance to beat me"  
I laughed, thetreaticaly "Beat me? My friend, I must inform you that I haven't been playing!"  
My hedgehog captor blinked for a second, apparently lost for words.  
"So you intend to take over the world? To use my life and death as a tool. To fool all of those people into loving you just for the power it brings?"  
"Yes." He replied, shortly.  
"Well then, good luck" I said and smiled again. I could see the confusion and anxiety build up on his face. I could see the thought passing accross his mind:  
  
What's he up to? What's he going to do?  
  
I held my smile.  
  
"One more question" I said, attempting to sound slightly manic "Sonic, do you believe in an afterlife?"  
  
At this point, he reached a conscious descision and, all in one chain of movements, whipped the gun from behind him, pushed it to my head, whispered, hastily, "Sayanora, Shadow the Hedgehog", and pulled the trigg--  
  
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And then it happened. A sort of involuntary, mental chaos control. That's the only way I could expalin it. It seemed an eternity until...  
  
Memories, of my days in A.R.K. It was all so easy then. No complications. A perfect friend, who I thought I'd never lose. The hardest question was an almost trivial, philosophical one. I was content, happy, and life was a new, interesting adventure for me.  
I had love. I felt cared for. I thought those days of happiness, easiness and contentment would go on forever. It was just... perfect.  
  
An eternity until...  
  
These thoughts flashed on, but in my subconscious, these were my thoughts:  
  
Happy and content? that was nothing compaired to now! My memories were real, and I know what I am here to do on Earth. If A.R.K. was perfection, then what was this? I know my meaning of life. I am 'enlightened'. What's more, knowing the meaning of life, I don't care about it any more. Why should I save the world? Life has nothing more to offer me. I wonder what death has to hol--  
  
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The gun fired.The bullet hit.It all went black. Sayanora.  
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End file.
